Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- (1) Degree a person is cognizant or ignorant that their actions are good or bad and why. (2) Degree a person is free to act, or forced to act, by internal (psychological) or external (physical) forces. --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- (1) Determinism. Too many people think, when event A happens instead of event B, that "everything happens for a reason", meaning a divine reason, not an earthly cause. These people are on the wrong track. They are trying to comfort themselves, at the expense of truth. Did the Holocaust happen for a reason? Did their god want the Holocaust to occur? Should we keep having murders? This line of reasoning is also an attempt to avoid responsibility. If things happened for a reason, then these people feel less responsible for fighting injustice. This line of reasoning is also a way to avoid the big question marks in life. Instead of saying "I do not know, and I will never know, if event A would have been better than event B.", they say, "There must have been a reason". This is religious thinking. "All things happen for a reason. All things happen for the best. Whatever will be will be. It is all gods will." These are all psychologically pathological attitudes. It is sub-optimal. They are not talking about natural causes, or individual decisions. They are talking about some sort of end that everything is heading towards, and a supernatural guide who is leading us there. Do they really believe the Holocaust had to happen? Do they really believe the Holocaust should have happened? People who believe that the Holocaust should have happened are ill. --- 01/03/1994

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- (1) Freedom is an easy sell. Freedom is easy to understand. Freedom is easy to desire. To give freedom to others one just has to say, "Yes, go right ahead". (2) Equality is as important as freedom. The importance of equality is more difficult to see if you are not a minority. The importance of equality if more difficult for the privileged to see. To give equality one has to say, "Now, wait a second." Equality involves saying, "No." Some people don't like to hear the word "No." --- 11/13/2005

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- (1) The nomad. Few material things, but many experiences, much thought, and much freedom? (2) The materialistic. Many material things, but few experiences, little thought, and little freedom. --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- Freedom. What types and degrees of freedom do I have, or can I get? (1) Freedom of thought: having an open mind. (2) Freedom of speech: having a big mouth. (3) Freedom of action: having a healthy body. (4) Political freedom. (5) Economic freedom. (6) Spatial and temporal freedom. --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- Freedom. You are not really free unless you are aware that you are free and that you have choices. You have to know what all your choices are. And you have to know the outcomes for actions chosen. --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- Freewill. (1) If you believe in cause and effect, then how can you believe in human choice and freewill? (2)(A) Obsessive compulsives and addicts are not 100% free. (B) Human drives make us not 100% percent free. (3) No one is 100% free, but in courts of law we act as if people are. No one is 100% un-free either. --- 8/5/1998

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- Freewill. To those who say humans do not have freewill, and that they inevitably choose what they think is best. I say, if a person can say "I will flip a coin to make this decision, and act which ever way the coin lands.", then in my book we have freewill. --- 9/23/1998

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- Gaining freedom is the first big step. Using freedom is the second big step. --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- How free are we? How free can we be? How free should we be? --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- How free we are depends on limits imposed by environment and society (others). --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- How free you are depends on (1) Number of choices you have, and your knowledge of choices and their outcomes. You should be informed. (2) Detachedness of desire. Not biased to any choice. You should be disinterested. --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- Real freedom is when it does not matter which choice you pick. For example, choosing a blue jawbreaker vs. a green one. That is, matters of taste only. In any ethical situation we have no freedom, because we "ought" or "should" do the good thing. "Do the right thing", they say. In an ethical situation it does matter which choice we pick. So we are not free. If the world was not an ethical situation, then we would be free. But on this earth there is precious little freedom. There is freedom only in matters of taste. --- 04/10/1997

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- The goal of mankind is to develop as much freedom as possible, for individuals and society. To do this through technology, knowledge, etc. With freedom comes responsibility (to self, others, and nature). The more freedom, the more responsibility. Thus the purpose of life is to become as responsible as possible, but not to take on more responsibility than we can handle. --- 12/30/1995

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- The truth will set you free? Knowledge is power. Power is freedom? --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- There is no freedom, only slavery by degree. --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- To be "not free" is to be a slave or prisoner. All men are both. To "become free" is to be emancipated or liberated. --- 11/27/1993

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- To what degree are we are slaves to the environment we spent ages 1 to 3 in (Freudianism)? To what degree are we slaves to the environment we were in until we were able to think and act for ourselves (teenage)? --- 12/30/1992

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- Two types of freedom: mental freedom and physical freedom. (1) Sitting in a jail cell, your physical freedom is near zero, but your mental freedom is near 100 because you can think about anything you like. (2) Working a busy job that involves travel, your physical freedom is near 100 because you can drive anywhere, but your mental freedom is near zero if you have to think only about the job all day long. --- 7/31/2006

Philosophy, ethics, freedom. --- Two types of freedom. (1) Peace and happiness is based on cooperation and inter-dependence vs. (2) being totally self-sufficient and independent is best. --- 12/30/1992